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Coating apparatus and method for real-timely monitoring thickness change of coating film

Inactive Publication Date: 2011-06-23
FORWARD ELECTRONICS CO LTD
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

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Benefits of technology

[0008]The object of the present invention is to provide a method for real-timely monitoring thickness change of a film. The utilization of an optical fiber sensor which has small volume, is not inf

Problems solved by technology

Of course, this leads to an undesirable scrapping of products when there has been a flaw in the manufacturing process.
Therefore, post-production examination is not helpful to the yield of the coating process.
However, this type of examination still belongs to post-production examination and the coating film may be easily damaged during such.
Nevertheless, such inspection is limited to a material of a substrate coated in the coating process and also can not achieve the real-time examination.
Furthermore, an optical monitor system was reported, but such monitor system is limited in the precisio

Method used

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  • Coating apparatus and method for real-timely monitoring thickness change of coating film
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  • Coating apparatus and method for real-timely monitoring thickness change of coating film

Examples

Experimental program
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Example

Example

[0030]FIG. 1A shows a perspective view of the coating apparatus for real-timely monitoring thickness changes in the example of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1A, the coating apparatus of the present invention for real-timely monitoring includes a coating module 10 and a thickness-monitoring module 20.

[0031]The coating module 10 includes a chamber 11, a radio frequency (RF) plasma generator 12, a vacuum pump 13, and a coating-material supply 14. The RF plasma generator 12, the vacuum pump 13, and the coating-material supply 14 are connected to the chamber 11. The vacuum pump 13 serves to remove the air in the chamber 11. The coating-material supply 14 is used to provide a material of coating films, for example, isopropanol. Under the operation of the RF plasma generator 12, a coating process is performed on a surface of a substrate 30.

[0032]Besides, the thickness-monitoring module 20 contains a light source 21, an SPR optical fiber sensor 22, a light-receiving detecto...

Example

Test Example 1

[0036]Real-time monitoring of the thickness change of an organic coating film is described below.

[0037]First, a coating apparatus is provided. The coating apparatus includes a coating module 10 and a thickness-monitoring module 20. The coating module 10 has a chamber 11. The thickness-monitoring module 20 contains a light source 21, an SPR optical fiber sensor 22, a light-receiving detector 23, a micro-processing unit 24, and a plurality of optical fibers 25. The SPR optical fiber sensor 22 is arranged in the chamber 11 of the coating module 10. The optical fibers 25 serve to connect the SPR optical fiber sensor 22 with the light source 21 and the light-receiving detector 23. The light source 21 provides the SPR optical fiber sensor 22 with light via the optical fibers 25. The residual structure of the coating apparatus can accord with that of the abovementioned example.

[0038]After a substrate 30 is put into the chamber 11 of the coating module 10, the operation of the...

Example

Test Example 2

[0042]In the present test example, real-time monitoring of the thickness change of an inorganic coating film is performed in a similar manner of Test Example 1 except the differences described below. Since the process is to deposit the inorganic coating film on the surface of the substrate 30, an inorganic material such as TiO2 is used. In addition, the process needs to be adjusted according to conventional techniques and performed in an atmosphere of inert gas such as argon. Furthermore, the gold layer 244 is deposited on the sensing area SA of the SPR optical fiber sensor 22 used in the present test example.

[0043]FIGS. 3A and 3B show spectrograms with or without the deposition of TiO2 inorganic film. In the figures, the control groups are the spectrograms without inorganic film deposition. In FIG. 3A, the test group is the spectrogram of 20 nm TiO2 inorganic film. In FIG. 3B, the test group is the spectrogram of 30 nm TiO2 inorganic film. The results show that the de...

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Abstract

A method for real-timely monitoring thickness change of a coating film is disclosed. In the method, a coating module having a chamber and a film thickness-monitoring module containing an SPR optical fiber sensor, a light source, a light-receiving detector, and optical fibers are first provided. The optical fibers are used to connect the SPR optical fiber sensor with the light source and the light-receiving detector. The SPR optical fiber sensor has a sensing area and is arranged in the chamber. The light source provides the SPR optical fiber sensor with light. Then, a substrate is put into the chamber. While coating process is performed on the substrate, a film is also formed on the sensing area of the SPR optical fiber sensor. The light-receiving detector receives signals output from the sensing area of the SPR optical fiber sensor and then outputs signals of light-intensity change.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]1. Field of the Invention[0002]The present invention relates to a coating apparatus and a method for real-timely monitoring thickness change of a coating film and, more particularly, to a coating apparatus and a method for real-timely monitoring thickness change of an organic coating film.[0003]2. Description of Related Art[0004]As the semiconductor technology and the industry of liquid crystal display devices develop upward, a coating process has been widely used in the domestic and foreign industries. Currently, the domestic and foreign industries are using post-production examination of a coating film. In other words, the measurement for the thickness of the coating film can only be performed after the coating process has finished and the coated sample is taken out. The quality of the resultant coating film can be recognized only after the abovementioned measurement, but not in the real-time course of the coating process. Of course, this leads to ...

Claims

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Application Information

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IPC IPC(8): C23C16/44C23C16/00
CPCG01N21/553C23C16/44
Inventor TSAO, YU-CHIALEE, CHUNG-PEICHEN, KO-SHAOTSAO, JIA-HUEYLIN, CHUN-CHIHLIANG, REN-KUN
Owner FORWARD ELECTRONICS CO LTD
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